‘We could be playing in the parking lot’: Road warrior Rebels ready for tough test in Boise

BOISE, Idaho — Marsel McDuffie enjoys it all. The environment. The taunting. The underdog role.

The senior linebacker has seen it all on the road as a UNLV football player. The winning. The losing. The ups. The downs.

But nothing compares to finding success away from home.

“It’s just about our resiliency,” McDuffie said. “We could be playing in the parking lot. However many guys we have is all we need. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing against. Going into other stadiums, we feel like that’s our field. That’s the mindset we have.

“That’s why we’ve had success on the road.”

UNLV went 2-10 away from home in McDuffie’s first two seasons. The Rebels are 13-3 in true road games since.

The team’s nine road wins since the start of last season are the most in the FBS.

UNLV’s latest test will come at Boise State on Saturday. It won’t be easy. The Broncos are a 12½-point favorite and have announced a sellout at Albertsons Stadium.

So if the Rebels (6-0, 2-0 Mountain West) are to continue their perfect season, they’ll likely have to play their best game yet.

Boise State (4-2, 2-0) has won 15 straight at home, tied with Alabama for the longest active home winning streak in the FBS.

Stay together

“Winning on the road is definitely a great feeling,” McDuffie said. “You look up in the stands and see the opposing fans sulking or cussing you out or leaving early because you’re winning. It feels good to win at home, but just a little better to win on the road.”

Here’s another thing McDuffie thinks is important for UNLV: When and if things go badly on the road, there is no finger-pointing or placing blame on others.

“We know (Boise State) is going to have a packed crowd,” McDuffie said. “You just have to live in the moment, have fun and embrace the environment. It’s easy when things are going your way, but the hard part is when you’re down. That’s the time to stay together and find ways to get the job done.”

Think about how far UNLV has come in such games. Between 2005 and 2022, the Rebels suffered seven winless seasons on the road. Their overall road record in that span was 16-89.

The longest road losing streaks in school history are 26 games between 1994 and 1998, 23 games between 2009 and 2013 and 15 games between 2004 and 2006.

But all of it changed when former coach Barry Odom arrived in 2023.

The Rebels’ only road losses since have come against eventual national champion Michigan and Fresno State in 2023 and Boise State in the 2024 Mountain West title game.

“I think you have to have confidence within an environment and the ability to handle that environment,” said coach Dan Mullen, whose team has won at Sam Houston, Miami (Ohio) and Wyoming this season. “Any time you’re on the road, there are roller coasters of ups and downs. When you’re on the top looking down, that’s not so crazy.

“But when you’re on the bottom, you have a frenzy of people around you that can lead to issues if you can’t handle the environment. That’s the downwards fall.”

Home-field advantage

Mullen said the drops on the road haven’t been so major when he’s had great teams. Fewer issues have arrived when things haven’t gone their way.

They haven’t let raucous crowds affect their play or get into their heads.

It’s different at home. The advantage of having fans cheer for you can be massive.

“If you have watched us play, we’ve made some critical plays near the end of games at home,” Mullen said. “A lot of that has to do with our fans. Allegiant Stadium is the loudest to me in the fourth quarter and the key moments of a game. The stadium becomes that frenzy.

“And if the other team struggles handling that, then we can keep succeeding, But the maturity of our guys (on the road) is a big deal. Things can go a lot better at big moments of a game if you can handle things well.”

Of late, UNLV certainly has.

Contact Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.